Chairman of the Government Assurances Committee of Parliament, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, is asking if government has anything to hide regarding the state of public lands.
He says the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abdulai Jinapor, has been summoned by Parliament to provide details of State lands which he has not been able to, for over two years now.
According to him, they observed that State lands were being sold to private individuals including cronies aligned with the ruling government.
The development, he says, led to a summon of the Minister to Parliament to provide a report on the status of public lands, detailing which have been sold and to whom and those remaining.
Although the Minister was asked to provide the details since the assumption of office of this government in 2017, Mr. Ablakwa says he opted to go back from 1993 and provide all those details.
However, after two and a half years, the Minister has not given any details of the lands. Meanwhile, Mr. Jinapor has addressed the media over the week, an avenue the Member of Parliament for North Tongu says should have been used to publish the list of the State lands.
Speaking on the KeyPoints on TV3 Saturday, August 17, 2024, the lawmaker questioned if the government has something to hide.
“We said that provide the date from 2017. When he appeared before us in Parliament, he said that he want to go back from 1993. The original question was from 2017 filed by the Chief Whip, the Hon. Kwame Agbodza and he said he wants to go back to 1993 and that’s what Parliament has been pursuing for two and half years.
“Can you believe that? Two and half years, what do they have to hide? When I heard that he was going to address the country this week, I thought that he was going to publish the list. That is what the Ghanaian people want to see,” he stated.
His comments come after the Minister refuted allegations of wanton dissipation of State lands.
According to him, there was no state capture of public lands as alleged by some individuals.
Addressing the media in Accra Wednesday, August 14, 2024, the Minister, while admitting that the sale of public lands in itself was not illegal as such lands could be used by the private sector to promote development, Mr Jinapor said it was not right for public officials to acquire public lands due to the issue of conflict of interest.
He, therefore, dared critics who had evidence of any public official acquiring land under his tenure in a manner that abused the code of conducts of the public service, to come forward for appropriate action to be taken.
“The rule of the game is evidence, if anyone has any evidence that a public appointee has bought public lands and has done so in a manner that offends the code of ethics of public officers, the person has put him/herself in the position of conflict of interests. Why not, we will take a look at it,” he said.
“For me, as a general rule, I do not think that public or government appointees should go anywhere near public lands. If you want land to buy you go to a private space,” he added.
He also indicated that those lands that have been sold were done under President Mahama’s era and not Akufo-Addo.
But according to the Minister, the said lands Mr. Ablakwa referred were sold under John Mahama’s administration and not Akufo-Addo.
“The allegation was that the judicial service land was sold under this Akufo-Addo government and that is evidence of state capture but when these allegations are made my attitude is very simple, to put together the record, and assemble the facts before we make any decision.
“When the facts were assembled it turned out that the lands were not sold by under President Akufo-Addo. On the contrary, the land was sold under President Mahama in 2015,” he reemphasised.
